It is hard to believe that we have been home for a week! Where does time fly to? Anyway I realized that I forgot to post why and how we were able to come home on Saturday. We were cleared on Tuesday for the kids to get their visas, but we didn't actually have the visas in hand. Unfortunately, we began to doubt many things...so we didn't believe that the kids really had visas until they were in our hands. We were told we would get them on Friday, and that we could leave on Friday if we wanted.
Cautiously optimistic we called my dad to have him see if we could get on Fridays flight AND how much it would cost us...we had heard from a few people that it could cost up to $500 a ticket to change...did we really want to spend $2000 to come home early??? Well, God showed his ultimate kindness to us in that we only paid a small fee to reissue tickets, but there was no additional cost per ticket AND we were on a straight flight back to Brussels (The ONE flight that goes 3 times a week, flies Europe to (Where we got off) then to the Ivory Coast and then back to Brussels - so when we depart, we would've had a stop before heading home - an additional 2 + hours on the plane!).
On Wednesday, we decided to get the tickets, but we still had no visas. We then called Kris to let her know we might be home early, but not to tell the kids because there was no guarantee we would be on the flight - or even if we got on the flight that it would actually leave the country...SIDENOTE: Talk about ALL my fears being exposed, everyone knows my fear of flying, right? When we left Dulles on the United flight, we all boarded the flight, got buckled in, ready for take off and "Sorry folks, this airplane is unsafe to fly, please disembark." Yes, so after that, I was supposed to get back on another "safe" airplane...OK...back to our departure: the flights leave Sunday, Wednesday and Friday - we were trying to leave Friday. The Wednesday before flight (the one Danielle was on) HIT a BIRD on the way in and everyone trying to leave had to sit on the runway for 3 hours while the "technicians" hoped to fix the problem to make the plane OK to fly again. THEN the one the Wednesday before that actually TOOK OFF and had to turn around and land because they encountered a serious problem...However, there are no other planes so that one had to be the one to take off in! Where do you find competent airplane technicians in a 3rd world country???? SOOOO, my fears grew and our confidence that we would really leave were small...we only knew we left once we got into Brussels.
So Wednesday, we booked the tickets and then Thursday the kids fell ill with very high fevers that evening/night - so high that the director immediately called a pediatrician to make a house call...were we going home Friday? That was the only time I "slightly" broke down, I wanted to be home where I could take my kids to get help...but God provided. A wonderful doctor came...calm as anything...gave them injections...wrote out a prescription and said we should be OK to travel the next day...so we planned on it. The next morning the kids fevers were controlled and we determined to get on that flight...but still no visas yet. We had to leave by 5 to get to the airport and the visas came at 4:30! Because of the uncertainty of our flight out, we didn't tell, nor did we have the time to tell anyone at home that we were on our way.
Once we arrived in Brussels, we did call immediate family to say we were OUT! They appreciated the call at 11:45 at night, but we thought it would be better then than at 4:30am when our next flight took off for the states! We only called our kids once we safely touched down in Dulles to say we were home! So although there was some suspense in a surprise return, that was not our intent, just the reality of the culture we were in! Thanks to all for the wonderful reception when we got home!!! Oh, and I was fine on the planes - I think I was exhausted and slept most of the first flight!

Funny thing:
We call the littlest one "pipsqueak," but Kd can't remember and calls him "squeak toy"-totally different!

Blessings:
None of us got any intestinal things while traveling...and Brian ate everything, even things off the streets of the market!

Secret from travel:
The chimp, Trouble, that is usually kept in a cage, got out and ended up biting Isaac, one of the guests! Luckily for him, we had rubber gloves and every type of medical supplies necessary and taped him right up! - He was fine by the way :-) and we stayed in until she was recaged about a day or so later!

Thanks:
-Susan for the dinner (and for the extra effort for the ethnic foods) and getting to know you better
-Gina for the wonderful chicken soup - the kids loved it!
-I know I am missing things, just give me time and I will get everyone...my brain is still working a little behind :-)